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Looking to buy a gite complex - anyone selling?


Derkins
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I and others no doubts on here, will not be at all surprised. The last

5 years or so,  have seen a  boom in Brits arriving and many

of those came to run gîtes and B&B's on the back of TV programmes

and the want to lead a "better life" in France.

Now the fall out of all that is appearing. Many attempts are now on the

market, having found out it is not quite as easy as it looks on the

exterior, nor as cheap to restore nor as cheap to actually live in

France, as many people would have them believe ! Those places, allied

to the places on the market, where the folks who have done well enough

but  would now like to retire or move on, means a look around the

sites will show quite a choice gîtes and complexes to choose from.

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Not sure about all 5, but a good location is important and if you are not right on the coast a heated pool is almost a must now to generate enough income to live on. I don't think gites involve a huge amount of work, in fact I'm sure they are the easy option compared to B&B, but there is more and more competition now and you need to offer something pretty good to get more than the minimum 12 weeks let a year. Do not underestimate the cost of general maintainance/decoration/furnishing that is involved in keeping the rental accommodation to a good standard. Other things really depend on the market you are aiming for, if it is families, a big garden with lots to do is important, if you want the golfing market then the requirement will be different.
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Learn the language, if you don't already speak it.

even those of us who have a large percentage of english speaking customers/guests still need to have a reasonable level of French language.

perhaps i might add that, it is possible to get by with less than 4 gites, but only if other sources of income are also investigated
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I would say the best thing is presenation in advertisements.

Those selling I would say are doing due to -
They aren't getting as many bookings  as they would like probably due to poor advertising
And because they are making a mint from their property by selling it (nothing wrong with that).

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Yes. QUALITY of the lettings. For a holidaymaker who has been saving hard all year,he wants the best he can afford and not some run down cottage that has been furnished with second hand rubbish that a lot of people seem to do and then wonder why they get no takers. I've seen some horrors that people have done up and also, a lot of people don't like the owners in their face all the time whilst they are staying. If I was going into this trade I would furnish with stuff better than my own residence.
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[quote user="Val_2"]Yes. QUALITY of the lettings. For a holidaymaker who has been saving hard all year,he wants the best he can afford and not some run down cottage that has been furnished with second hand rubbish that a lot of people seem to do and then wonder why they get no takers. I've seen some horrors that people have done up and also, a lot of people don't like the owners in their face all the time whilst they are staying. If I was going into this trade I would furnish with stuff better than my own residence.[/quote]

I'm sure this is true if you are hoping to get really high prices but I sometimes wonder, as a punter, whether some accommodation is too smart and, therefore too expensive. When you look at the price of some places, you could stay in an expensive hotel for less or go to a more exotic location. Some of the rooms look so smart that they must be a nightmare to stay in with young children. As long as the standard of accommodation is appropriate for the prices charged, don't you feel that there's a place for both luxury and more basic accommodation?

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The very same thought crossed my mind - great for small two person (aka couple) gite but for a family it would be my idea of a holiday from hell!

Our last gite we chose (or rather the kids chose) because the pictures showed that the kids had moved the outside hammock into the big kids bedroom.  There were no precious things around we had to worry about and the owners clearly had a relaxed approach to the house as their grandchildren seemed to spend many weeks in summer building dens etc around the place, moving furniture etc etc.

(Just as an aside though - this was one of the gites I referred to on the gite cleaning thread - where we had to chip food off kitchen appliances etc etc - so they were clearly relaxed in their approach to hygeine too!)

Kathie

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[quote user="ChezShells"]

Those selling I would say are doing due to -
They aren't getting as many bookings  as they would like probably due to poor advertising
And because they are making a mint from their property by selling it (nothing wrong with that).

[/quote]

...not everyone....

we are selling after 5 successful summers, when we moved here we knew this was just temporary, we had a good time and loved every moment. 

we are moving forward, for sure not going back to the UK!  next stop is South Africa and our experience here will be precious! we know it will take a long time to sell so we are ready and happy to run another season in 2007. ..and we will not make a mint, just the right price after having several valuations from more than one estate agent.

the fact that there are so many gites for sale is not scary for us, it only means the buyers have to be more careful in choosing the right one...

 

 

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